Peyton Stearns serves the ball during her quarter-final singles match against Oksana Selekhmeteva at the ATX Open on Feb. 27. Stearns won the match after three sets.
Taylor Townsend, left, and Peyton Stearns laugh after Townsend interrupted Stearns’ speech at the ATX Open on March 1.
The opening game at the ATX Open stretched to the deuce point before either player got the chance to settle in. Taylor Townsend floated a soft pop-up over the net, and Peyton Stearns pounced, smashing it straight down on Townsend’s side. Townsend could only smile as the ball sailed beyond her reach — advantage Stearns.
Townsend answered immediately, tying the game at deuce once again. Stearns’ ace on the following serve put the advantage back in her hands, but Townsend got off two well-placed returns to snag her first advantage of the game. A double fault from Stearns on the following point gave Townsend the game and a 1-0 lead.
It was a fitting preview of a match defined by momentum swings and contrasting play styles. Stearns, right-handed and aggressive, loved to attack with her strong forehand. Townsend, a lefty, thrived on defense, using her signature backhand like a counterpunch.
The two had both been crowd favorites in their matches all week, so when they met in the final, the crowd’s allegiance was hard to predict.
“Going into this match, playing another American on American soil, it doesn’t really matter where you are,” Stearns said. “The fans are going to be (there) for both of y’all. It could be 60-40, 50-50, and I felt like today it was pretty even.”
Early in the match, however, the crowd and the score favored Townsend. She built a 4-2 lead in the set with sound defense and well-timed attacks. Stearns answered by winning the seventh game without conceding a point, but Townsend restored a two-game lead at 5-3 with a delicate drop-shot that drew impressed murmurs from the crowd.
In the ninth game, Stearns erased a Townsend setpoint, leveling the game at deuce, before delivering an ace followed by a powerful serve that Townsend couldn’t return to steal the point and shorten Townsend’s lead to 5-4.
The momentum, which had been on Townsend’s side until this point, tipped in Stearns’ favor. In the tenth game, unforced errors from Townsend gave way. She sent three returns out of bounds and double-faulted to even the score at 5-5.
The mistakes mounted in the 11th game. Townsend sent three more returns out of bounds and watched as Stearns’ ace flew past her as Stearns gained her first lead of the day, 6-5.
Refusing to back down, Townsend took the next game to tie the score at 6-6 and trigger a tiebreaker. Before it began, she retreated to a towel station, wiped her face and took a deep breath.
The day before, Townsend had played both singles and doubles semifinals back-to-back, logging over an hour of additional court time compared to Stearns, who only played in the singles semifinal.
“Playing both singles and doubles and having a lot of matches is obviously a lot on the body,” Townsend said. “I wanted to play a ton of matches, and put myself in this position where you have to fight through these things because this is what happens when you’re playing the bigger tournaments.”
Still, the physical toll was evident, and Stearns exploited it in the tiebreaker, sending Townsend scurrying with well-placed shots to either side of the court to claim a 6-3 lead and set point.
Townsend’s resilience showed once again, as she saved three set points from Stearns to even the score at 6-6. The two would trade blows, matching each other to 8-8. Townsend’s energy would fade, as she missed two easy returns, ending the tiebreaker in Stearns’ favor, 10-8, and giving her the set, 7-6.
“When I pulled through that first set, that was gonna be a big (momentum shift),” Stearns said.“I think whoever won that first set knew that it’s in their favor.”
The two continued trading blows, leveling the score at 3-3. Although Townsend was growing visibly frustrated with herself, she was still keeping pace with Stearns.
With the score even at 4-4, Townsend executed two volleys to snatch a 5-4 lead, prompting an eruption from the crowd. “There she is,” someone shouted from the stands, as if willing her to keep fighting.
But that final surge seemed to drain the last of Townsend’s energy. Stearns quickly evened the set at 5-5, refusing to let the championship slip from her grasp. She captured the next two games with authority, putting the final nail in Townsend’s coffin to win the set, 7-5, and the title.
As the crowd showered her in applause, Stearns held up the “Hook ‘em” hand gesture, a nod to her successful career at Texas.
“After the first match, I said it would be nice for a Longhorn to finally win this tournament,” Stearns said. “Yeah, it’s kind of nice.”
The match began at deuce, balanced and uncertain. It ended with Stearns lifting the trophy, but not without Townsend pushing her to the brink. It was a final decided in the smallest moments, where grit and resilience marked every point.